The present invention is directed to a data communication system for an artificial heart assembly.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,674,281 to Snyder discloses an artificial heart assembly having a blood inlet conduit, a blood outlet conduit, and a pumping mechanism that pumps blood from the blood inlet conduit to the blood outlet conduit. The Snyder artificial heart assembly includes a first membrane defining a blood chamber fluidly coupled to the blood inlet conduit and the blood outlet conduit, and the pumping mechanism includes a pusher plate that makes contact with the first membrane to force blood from the blood inlet conduit to the blood outlet conduit. The Snyder artificial heart assembly also has a second membrane defining a second blood chamber fluidly coupled to a second blood inlet conduit and a second blood outlet conduit and a second pusher plate that makes contact with the second membrane to force blood from the second blood inlet conduit to the second blood outlet conduit.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,728,154 to Crossett, et al. discloses an artificial heart assembly that has a structure similar to the artificial heart assembly described above in connection with the Snyder patent. The Crosset, et al. patent also discloses a communications system that includes an external transceiver located external of a subject and an internal transceiver that is implanted beneath the skin of a subject. The internal transceiver is provided with an internal coil.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,751,125 to Weiss discloses an artificial heart assembly, which is provided either as a total artificial heart or as a ventricular assist device, having a sensorless motor and a circuit for reversibly driving the sensorless motor.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,630,836 to Prem, et al. discloses a transcutaneous energy and data transmission apparatus for a cardiac assist device such as an artificial heart or ventricular assist device. The transmission apparatus has an external coupler in the form of a tuned circuit with an induction coil and an internal coupler which together act as an air-core transformer. The transmission apparatus has a DC power supply and a power converter that are coupled to the external coupler. The power converter converts electric current from the DC power supply into high-frequency AC. The transmission apparatus has a voltage regulator coupled to the internal coupler. As shown in FIG. 3 and described in connection therewith, the Prem, et al. patent discloses that the voltage regulator includes a shunt switch and a shunt controller. As shown in FIG. 2, the power converter includes an H-bridge inverter, an H-bridge controller, and a shunt detector. The H-bridge controller can reduce the duty cycle of the H-bridge converter if a shunt is detected.
In one aspect, the invention is directed to an artificial heart assembly having a blood inlet conduit, a blood outlet conduit, a pump that pumps blood from the blood inlet conduit to the blood outlet conduit, and an internal electromagnetic coupler adapted to be implanted beneath the skin of a subject. A voltage regulator is operatively coupled to the internal electromagnetic coupler to generate an output voltage that is supplied to the pump. The voltage regulator causes the magnitude of the output voltage to be modulated in accordance with a transmit data signal. An external electromagnetic coupler is operatively coupled to generate an electric signal at least in part from the output voltage, and a decoding circuit is coupled to sense a parameter of the electric signal generated by the external electromagnetic coupler. The decoding circuit generates a receive data signal from the sensed electric signal, the receive data signal corresponding to the transmit data signal.
In another aspect, the invention is directed to an apparatus adapted to be used in connection with an artificial heart assembly having a blood inlet conduit, a blood outlet conduit, and a pump that is adapted to pump blood from the blood inlet conduit to the blood outlet conduit. The apparatus includes an internal power coupler adapted to be implanted beneath the skin of a subject and a power supply circuit operatively coupled to the internal power coupler which generates an output voltage that is provided to a blood pump. The power supply circuit causes the magnitude of the output voltage to be modulated in accordance with a transmit data signal, and an external power coupler is operatively coupled to generate an electric signal at least in part from the output voltage. A decoding circuit is coupled to sense a parameter of the electric signal generated by the external power coupler, and the decoding circuit generates a receive data signal from the sensed electric signal which corresponds to the transmit data signal.
The power supply circuit may cause the magnitude of the output voltage to modulate in accordance with a first data signal having a first frequency to represent a first data message and to modulate in accordance with a second data signal having a second frequency to represent a second data message, where the first frequency is different than the second frequency.
The invention is also directed to a method of data communication utilized in connection with an artificial heart assembly having a blood inlet conduit, a blood outlet conduit, and a pump that is adapted to pump blood from the blood inlet conduit to the blood outlet conduit. The method includes: transmitting electric power from an external coupler to an internal coupler, generating an output voltage from the electric power transmitted, the output voltage being modulated in accordance with a transmit data signal, generating in the external coupler an electric signal, the electric signal being generated at least in part from the output voltage, and decoding the electric signal received to generate a receive data signal that corresponds to the transmit data signal.
The features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art in view of the detailed description of the preferred embodiment, which is made with reference to the drawings, a brief description of which is provided below.